SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
Once you have determined some keywords that apply to your business, you will need to find a way to drive this pre-qualified traffic to your website. When it comes to SERPs you have two options: organic results or sponsored links.
The organic or natural results are located within the main section of the SERP while the sponsored links are located along the right hand side of the SERP and sometimes across the top in a yellow shaded box. Contrary to the popular belief that the sponsored links don’t recieve any clicks, this section recieves 30% of the market share leaving the the remaining 70% to the organic results. From this you can understand which section would yield the best results. Unfortunately, the photography industry is very competitive, and while you can pay to show up in the sponsored listings, you cannot pay to rank on the front page. You will have to prove to the search engines that you are more relevant than the hundreds of thousands of competitor websites out there.
The process of proving yourself to the search engines is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization. By understanding how the search engines determine rank, you can take the necessary steps to get there. This can be done by either doing the research and work yourself or by paying an SEO firm to do it for you, keeping in mind that even if you do pay someone, it takes at least 6 months to see any results, and will probably take a lot longer to do yourself. But if you are in the same boat as me because you’ve spent all your money on camera equipment, you will probably like to know how to do it yourself. Stay tuned for more information on this.
For a more immediate effect, you can invest in a PPC or Pay-Per-Click campaign. In this situation you are responsible for writing the ad-copy and the search engines will then display your ads at no cost. You only pay if someone actually clicks on your ad. The cost-per-click is determined by a couple different factors. The most important factor is the demand for the keyword. In a competitive industry such as wedding photography, the demand is quite high so you can expect a cost-per-click of about $5.00. One factor that most don’t know about is the quality score that the search engines assign to you. If your ads are getting a lot of clicks then the search engines will make more money and they will value you. They reward you by increasing your quality score which will in turn lower your cost-per-click and increase your rank amongst the sponsored links. So be sure to start your campaign off on the right foot by increasing your bid price so your ad shows up more often. Then slowly dial in your campaign and adjust parameters and ad-copy until you can maximize your conversion rates. PPC is another involved subject that will receive more attention at a later point in time.